Wolfgang Hampel. Founder of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society for Betty MacDonald Fans all over the world.
Wolfgang Hampel interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and other famous writers and artists.
Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald and Ma and Pa Kettle biography and Betty MacDonald Interviews are very popular all over the world.
Wolfgang Hampel is also famous for his satirical poems and stories.

Alistair Scrutton and Sven Nordenstam

Stockholm: Under huge strain from an influx of
unaccompanied children seeking asylum, the Swedish government faces
political pressure to undertake medical tests like X-rays to vet the age
of young refugees despite opposition from doctors and lawyers.The
controversy reflects tensions over surging immigration into the Nordic
country of 10 million after a public backlash that saw controls
reimposed on the border with Denmark, from which most migrants have
entered Sweden.

The police escort three men from a train
at Hyllie station outside Malmo, Sweden. Interior Minister Anders
Ygeman says Sweden could deport between 60,000 and 80,000 asylum-seekers
in coming years. Photo: AP

Sweden took in 163,000 asylum seekers last year, the most per
capita in Europe. They were among more than 1 million who streamed into
the continent, fleeing increasing conflict and deprivation in the Middle
East, Africa and Asia.

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More than a fifth, 35,000, of those reaching Sweden have been unaccompanied children, stretching services such as schools.Reports
of violence and assaults at centres for minors have added to the public
disquiet and hardened anti-immigrant sentiment in a country long
renowned for its humanitarian open-door policy.

Counter-demonstrators gather to show
their disapproval of an anti-migrant demonstration at Norrmalmstorg
Square in Stockholm last week. Photo: TT/AP

Many have arrived without IDs, leaving Sweden the task of
checking their real ages to ensure adults – defined as age 18 or over –
were not pretending to be minors to secure asylum.Worried young
adults may be swelling these ranks, many of Sweden's opposition parties
are calling for medical tests. Even the government has called for more
non-medical testing while it awaits reform proposals in April to break
the deadlock.There is a great incentive to claim to be a minor.
Applicants have greater access to housing and schools and less chance of
being deported.

Alexandra Mezher, right, with friend
Lejla Filipovic. Mezher was allegedly stabbed in the back by a
15-year-old migrant at the refugee centre where she was a volunteer. Photo: Lejla Filipovic via AP

"At the moment, very few, if any, age assessments are being done
in Sweden," Fredrik Beijer, director of legal affairs of Sweden's
Migration Agency, said.Efforts to confirm ages have been hampered
by the inability of authorities to carry out medical tests – such as
X-rays of teeth and hands. The government said in November it wanted the
tests, but – while such tests are not illegal – doctors have refused,
saying they are inaccurate."We believe that for a decision that
has such large consequences in an individual's life, one must require
higher precision," Anders Hjern, a spokesman for the Swedish Paediatric
Society, said.But doubts have not stopped the centre-right
Moderates, Sweden's biggest opposition party, calling on the migration
agency to hire doctors for medical checks in an effort to lower the
number of children arriving without families."Unaccompanied
minors make up around 20 per cent of asylum seekers but they cost about
half the migration budget," Hanif Bali, an Iranian-born legislator for
the Moderates, said. Mr Bali himself came to Sweden as an unaccompanied
minor at age three."Out of my own experience, because I have
lived in these kinds of homes, the environment becomes much harsher when
you have older people there. You get prison rules and many children get
caught up in the older people's troublemaking."Many other
European Union countries do carry out medical tests. Austria, for
example, allows doctors to do "age determination reports" that include
checks on teeth as well as genital development. In Italy, medical-age
assessments, such as X-rays, can be carried out by court order.The
issue of refugee minors is especially sensitive in Sweden. Reports of
assaults in overcrowded minors' centres – including of a 22-year-old female Swedish employee of one centre who was stabbed to death last week – have contributed to a sense authorities are overwhelmed."The
risk of disputes and discontent is obvious, and some small detail may
trigger conflict," said Thomas Svensson, head of social affairs for the
Emmaboda municipality in south-eastern Sweden, where staff at a home for
unaccompanied minors locked themselves in a room as 19 migrant youths
rioted.The influx of minors also carries big fiscal costs. Sweden
last year had to find an extra 70,000 school places due to asylum
seekers, on top of the 100,000 pupils that normally enter the school
system for the first time in any given year.Half of unaccompanied
minors have been registered as between 16 and 17, often making age
confirmation difficult and sparking accusations from the likes of the
far-right Sweden Democrats – the third-biggest party in parliament –
that adults are taking advantage of soft controls to enter the country.Even
without medical tests, some 667 minors had their age "adjusted" between
January and November last year, according to the Justice Ministry. The
data does not show if it was adjusted to above 18. That compares to 363
cases for all 2014.Proud of Sweden's decades-old tradition as a
self-proclaimed "humanitarian superpower", the government regards most
refugee minors as bona fide refugees fleeing war.Immigration
supporters say Swedes have been unduly influenced by a media frenzy
linking migrants with crime that has little to do with reality. For
example, despite reports of refugees being associated with sexual
assaults, reported rapes fell 12 per cent last year in Sweden. Thefts
were down 2 per cent.The debate is part of a crisis that has cut
centre-left Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's support to record lows in
polls due to a popular sense that his government is largely helpless to
stop a migrant influx seen as threatening Sweden's generous welfare
state and vaunted social stability.In a sign of mounting
political frustration, Migration Minister Morgan Johansson​ called on
Sunday for the migration agency to carry out more non-medical tests,
such as interviews with children.ReutersFollow FairfaxForeign on TwitterFollow FairfaxForeign on Facebook

About Me

Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.